Beyond Tantra: Healing Through Taoist Sacred Sex (14 page)

The book explains that it is possible to do something about this by using the Small Orbit to draw the energy away from the genital area and up into the rest of the body. What you’re supposed to do is squeeze your PC muscles (just as if you are trying to stop yourself peeing in mid-stream) and visualize energy being pulled up your spine. If you can do this you can catch yourself before you ejaculate and draw the energy upwards instead. It sounded like it was worth a try and, if it worked, it would be a big help to our exercises!

Before our next exercise session, I told Mieke about this Orbit I had read about and explained that I wanted to try it. I told her that, if I had understood it correctly, it would help if she, too, would imagine the energy being pulled upwards at the same time as I was squeezing my PC muscles.

So off we went as before. In the middle of the third set of nine I sensed I was nearing ‘the point of no return’. This time I looked at Mieke, squeezed my PC

muscle, took a deep breath and pulled the energy upwards. Success at last! The urge to ejaculate subsided and was replaced with the feeling of a warm glow throughout my body. It seems the Taoists knew what they were talking about after all.

Mieke’s Story

Stephan is great. He is always full of ideas and wants to work on exciting projects. Life with him is never boring! Some of these projects are just ‘brainchil-dren’; they don’t grow up. But others do and become real, such as this idea about working with sexual energy to heal. At first, I must say, I had my suspicions. Was

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this another hare-brained scheme of his? Before saying ‘Yes’, I thought about it.

I’m interested in healing, in herbal remedies, in being self-sufficient and in taking charge of my own healing. I come from the back-to-nature movement of the 1970s. Most importantly, I’m always curious and willing to try new things. So I said ‘Yes’ to this plan of his.

After a few months of our new adventure, ‘working with sexual energy for healing’, I was feeling less enthusiastic. I wondered why I was doing this.

Nothing much had happened. Our sessions by the fire followed similar patterns.

We were learning to talk more openly and honestly about things that mattered in our relationship but I didn’t feel much change in myself and I didn’t seem to have a lot more energy.

Stephan was working really hard at it. He was incredibly patient and persevering, stubborn even. He really wanted this to work for me. If I was honest with myself I, on the other hand, was getting a little bit sceptical. But most importantly I felt bad about Stephan’s trying so hard. I love him and I was touched by what he wanted to do for me and by what he wanted to change in himself! What about me? I realized I had not fully said YES. The day this insight came to me I told myself: YES! I have nothing to lose here, things can only get better, and I will do my part of the work. I will concentrate, as it takes two to tango! I felt that, up to then, I had said ‘Yes’ for a lot of reasons but I never said ‘Yes’ to myself. I had to give myself permission to be open and relaxed. I didn’t say this to Stephan; I just said it quietly to myself.

Our next session started off as usual. Stephan gave me a lovely Yoni massage.

My breathing was much deeper and more relaxed. I could let go. I did my Qi circulation and I got very excited. Then he was kissing me. Stephan’s really good with his tongue! I love it. Suddenly there was a big white flash of light: it came out of my sacrum and made a big loop in the air to connect with my navel! I was so surprised. I felt a little light-headed. Stephan saw the flash too and he got a slight headache. We spent quite a long time just lying in each other’s arms, very still, in awe of what we had just experienced. After some time, I told Stephan that I had said YES! He just nodded. For once he didn’t have much to say.

So what happened? I had been practising the microcosmic orbit on my own; I knew I could move the energy up my spine. And I knew that the energy moving down the front was not quite making it, until that day. The circuit was complete! It had everything to do with saying ‘Yes’ to myself. This was a very important experience for me. It is about taking responsibility for yourself and not only for your sexual energy. If you say ‘Yes’ in this way, blockages are overcome. Ever since that day, thinking back about what happened helps me to overcome difficulties in other situations too.

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Beyond Tantra – Healing Through Taoist Sacred Sex
The Small Orbit Exercise

Please do not skip over this exercise. The Small Orbit is a fundamental
tool for directing Sexual Qi. If you do not use it when practising Dual
Cultivation, you can end up with uncomfortable and unpleasant side-effects
due to ungrounded Qi.

Goals

• Learn how the Small Orbit works

• Practise directing your Sexual Qi through the Small Orbit

• Learn how to store Sexual Qi in your Tan Tien
Duration

Fifteen minutes

Note:
You can learn this exercise by yourself as it does not require a partner.

Description

Find a peaceful, undisturbed time and space. A good time is early morning before the rush of the day starts.

Relax. Meditate (still your mind) for a few minutes. Now curl your tongue so that the tip of your tongue touches the roof of your mouth. In this position your tongue acts as a ‘circuit-breaker’ that connects the energy channel that flows up your spine with the energy channel that flows down the front of your body.

Now use your mind to trace an energy circuit in your body. The circuit starts at your Hui Yin. The Hui Yin is the point between your legs half way between your Yoni/Jade Stalk and your anus. This is also called the perineum in Western medicine, whilst in acupuncture it is point CV 1. Follow along the circuit in your mind as it goes up your spine to the top of your head, down the centre of your forehead to the roof of your mouth, through your tongue, down your throat and the centre of your chest and navel and then back down to the perineum. Do this nine times.

The trick to the exercise is to follow the energy with your mind as it flows around. I found that, if I imagined a little white ball of light (a Qi Ball) that I followed as it travelled around, I could begin to sense the flow. In the Taoist practice

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Exhale – D

irect Qi D

p Qi —>

own —>

raw U

– D

Inhale

Hui Yin Point

of Qi Gong (translation: ‘Energy Cultivation’ or ‘Working with Energy’), there is a saying that ‘Where the Mind Goes, Qi Flows’. In other words, the very fact that you are using your mind to imagine an energy circuit actually creates one.

Next, synchronize your breathing with the flow. When the Qi Ball is at your Hui Yin, take a slow, deep breath. As you inhale, watch the Qi Ball as it travels up the spine. When the Qi Ball reaches the top of your head, start to exhale and watch it travel down the front channel until it reaches its starting point. Do this nine times.

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Beyond Tantra – Healing Through Taoist Sacred Sex Finally, learn how to give the Qi Ball a push by closing and squeezing your Hui Yin. To push the Qi Ball you inhale, give your PC muscle a squeeze and push the Qi Ball up your spine. Your PC muscle is the muscle you use when you stop yourself peeing in mid-stream. It’s also the same muscle that women learn to use when they practise Kegel exercises to strengthen their pelvic floor. Again, do the circuit nine times. Remember to keep the tip of your tongue up and touching the roof of your mouth when practising Qi circulation.

At the end of your Qi circulation session, you can pack or store the energy you have generated and circulated by mentally directing it to your Lower Tan Tien or Elixir Field. This is a point in the body located behind and slightly below the navel. This point is also called the Hara in Japanese. It is the balance point of your body. If you lean past the point moving forward, gravity will start to pull your body forward, and vice versa for backwards. So the point is inside your body.

To collect Sexual Qi in the Tan Tien, circulate your Qi as described above.

As the Qi Ball makes its way down the front of your body, direct it with your mind so that it stops at your Tan Tien. Place your hands over your Tan Tien. You may even feel some heat in your palms when you do this. Breathe deeply for a minute or two and relax your body while visualizing the Qi ball spiralling around your Tan Tien and finally coming to rest in it.

When you’re finished, you can shake your hands away from the sides of your body. This will disperse any excess Qi that wasn’t stored in the Tan Tien. If, for any reason, you experience negative or unpleasant feelings when the Small Orbit is completed, simply visualize the negative energy leaving your body as grey smoke. Imagine that the grey smoke exits from your hands and feet and returns to the Earth for ‘re-cycling’. This is a handy tool that you can use any time you wish to get rid of negative emotions or feelings.